The Right to Increase Tuition

People involved in public higher education have warned for some time that state universities need a new tuition model. Well Colorado has got one, sort of. According to an article by Steven Paulson at Business Week:

Colorado lawmakers on Wednesday unveiled a major overhaul of the state’s college tuition program that seeks to raise an additional $300 million by requiring parents and students to pay more.

Lawmakers announced the move as a way to help the state cover a projected $1.7 billion budget shortfall next fall. If approved, the measure would go into effect this November.

In exchange, colleges would have to meet strict goals for graduation and employment of students or they would have to roll back tuition increases.

The new plan would give state colleges more authority to control what they charge in tuition, in exchange for more accountability from the state.

Of course, this exchange isn’t much of a deal if you’re a Colorado student, because the bill essentially amounts to giving the colleges the right to charge you more tuition. Whatever, says Colorado’s Democratic Senate Majority Leader John Morse (essentially). According to the article, Morse “said it’s not unreasonable to ask students to work 10 hours a week during the semester and 40 hours a week in the summer.”[Image via]